Originally Posted by Seus  A few things:
Regarding the cardboard and water, regardless of the thickness, if there's enough water it'll get through and destroy the cardboard. One solution to this however is water-proof spray from a hardware store or an art store.
See this link to see an example: Link
For your lighting, I think that the power strip, while a good idea, isn't feasible. I say this because, you want your CFLs as close to the plant as possible (usually within 4 inches). What if one of the plants grows particularly long in one area?
Not so good with electrical work, etc? Pickup from Home Depot or Amazon.com - "Black and Decker: The complete guide to home wiring" approx. $25 in store. This book is invaluable. With this you can go out, buy some cheap extension cords, get some basic lamp sockets, some basic Y adapters, some standard electrical tools and electrical tape and rig up your lights to have either 1 or 2 lights all independent of each other. Then you can mount or place the power strip in another location for easy access to light timers, and your master on/off in case something unforeseen happens, etc.
It's really really easy to do once you figure it all out.
All you do is cut off the receptacle side of the extension cord, strip the wires, take the ridged or marked wire and take off the insulation, attach that to the silver screw, and then repeat for the other screw. After that, electrical tape of the whole top to keep any potential water / fingers away from causing problems, and voila. Your easily movable CFL light for next to nothing. Throw the Y adapter on this, and you're set.
And then at least this way, if you really had to separate a Y-Adapted light, it's all just be a matter of buying another extension cord ($2) and a socket ($1) rigging it up and connecting it to your power strip, thus making your plants get the best position on the lights, and not worrying about them falling out of the power strip.
I still highly suggest doing a test run for at least 24-48 hours. Tweaking your design as you go. If you have neighbors you're definitely going to need a decent carbon scrubber, as smell is your enemy here. You can pick one up that has a fan like the ones you're currently using attached to it. I think it'd clear out the air in there in roughly 1 minute max, which is good. Remember, the lights create heat, the plants create heat, if it's an outside wall, if it's during the summer, it'll create heat.
And lastly, the fans you have mounted, it's hard to tell from the picture, but is that box up flush against the door once the door is closed? as they will not operate if the door is closed. In fact, even if they're back a few inches, I'm still skeptical if they'd work well. Lets face it, if you have a 1/2" gap at the bottom of the door, how much fresh good air will go through that and into the void left for the fans to grab air from? I can't believe much. So all that will happen is you'll be recirculating crappy old hot air around (think of being on a friggin airplane before it takes off and the A/C is shut off) this is how your plants will feel and boy will they show it.
That's enough for now.....I have more thoughts, but we'll see where your grow goes next.
G/L man, I'm def. envious of you as I can't start my grow for at least 4 more weeks. |